Storage device for rubber o-rings

ABSTRACT

A device for storing rubber O-rings including a cylindrical tube of chipboard having two annular ribs coaxially disposed adjacent to but spaced from the opposite ends thereof, respectively, each rib being defined by an annular embossment on the interior of the tube and an annular indentation in concentric relation thereto on the exterior. Two ring-like chipboard retainers are removably affixed coaxially to the opposite ends, respectively, of the tube, the retainers being frictionally engaged with the ribs and having radially outwardly extending shoulders which define planes normal to the axis of the tube, whereby rubber O-rings may engage such shoulders and thereby be retained on the tube. In the event such O-rings have flat radial sides, the endmost O-rings on the tube will have a flush engagement with the respective shoulders thereby mimimizing the possibility of deformation of the Orings.

United States Patent 1 1 Weimer Sept. 18, 1973 STORAGE DEVICE FOR RUBBER O-RINGS [75] Inventor: Robert R. Weimer, Fort Wayne, Ind.

[73] Assignee: Paramount Industries, Inc., Ft. Wayne, Ind.

22 P116115 Mar. 22, 1972 [211 Appl. No.: 237,155

[52] U.S. 206/65 R, 206/16 R, 206/46 H, 21 H59 [51] Int. Cl 865d 85/02, 865d 85/62 [58] Field of Search 206/65 R, 46 H, 46 R, 206/16 R; 229/4.5; 211/59 [56] l References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,802,568 8/1957 Knox .L 206/65 R 3,540,576 11/1970 Pierce et a]. 206/16 R 2,125,620 8/1938 Schlumbohm 229/45 Primary Examiner.-William T. Dixson, Jr. Attorney-Harold B. l-Iood et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A device for storing rubber O-rings including a cylindrical tube of chipboard having two annular ribs coaxially disposed adjacent to but spaced from the opposite ends thereof, respectively, each rib being defined by an annular embossment on the interior of the tube and an annular indentation in concentric relation thereto on the exterior. Two ring-like chipboard retainers are removably affixed coaxially to the opposite ends, respectively, of the tube, the retainers being frictionally engaged with the ribs and having radially outwardly extending shoulders which define planes normal to the axis of the tube, whereby rubber O-rings may engage such shoulders and thereby be retained on the tube. In the event such O-rings have flat radial sides, the endmost O-rings on the tube will have a flush engagement with the respective shoulders thereby mimimizing the possibility of deformation of the O-rings.

6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 1 STORAGE DEVICE FOR RUBBER O-RINGS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to a device for packaging and storing a plurality of O-rings of rubber or the like material in such a manner that the. shapes of all of the O-rings will be preserved and otherwise not deformed.

2. Description of the Prior Art Rubber O-rings are conventionally stored in telescoped relation on a chipboard tube having chipboard end rings stapled thereto for retaining the O-rings on the tube. When it is desired to remove an O-ring from the tube, it is necessary to remove the staple and then the retaining ring such that an O-ring may be slipped off the tube. The fastening of a retaining ring by stapling is an item of expense in the packaging process and furthermore, once the staple has been removed, there is nothing to retain the retainer in position if it is reinstalled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the broader aspects of this invention, there is provided a rubber O-ring storage device comprising a cylindrical tube of self-supporting pliable material having two annular ribs coaxially disposed adjacent to but spaced from the opposite ends thereof, respectively. Each rib isdefined by an annularembossment on the interior of the tube and an annular identation-in-concentric relation thereto on the tube exterior. Two circular retainer devices are removably affixed coaxially to the opposite ends, respectively, of said tube,

. said devices being frictionally engaged with said ribs and having annular shoulders, respectively, extending radially outwardly from the circumference of the tube. the shoulders have radially extending surfacesfacing each other which define planes normal to the axis of the tube. y

In one form of the inventiom'the tube and the retainer devices are formed of chipboard which'is sufficiently resilientlylpliable as to permit the repeated installation and removal of the retainer devices.

It is an object of this invention to provide a storage device for O-rings of rubberor the like material useful in preserving the ring shape after an extended period of storage.

Another object of this invention is to provide a storage devicefor rubber or the like-O-rings wherein a plurality of O-rings are loosely retained on a tubular member having abutments on the opposite ends thereof, at least one of the abutments being removably frictionally secured in place and which provides a surface engageable by the endmost O-ring which will not cause deformation of the same.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in con- I junction with the accompanying drawings.

tion with rubber or the like O-rings installed thereon;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a typical O-ring;

FIG. 3 is an exploded side view, partly sectioned for clarity of illustration, of one embodiment of this inven tion;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view partly sectioned of a retaining device installed on the main supporting tube;

FIG. 5 is a view like FIG. 4 but of a second embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 6 is an end view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-section of a retaining device used in the embodiment of FIG. 5 taken substantially along the section line 7--7 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary illustration showing the endmost O-ring abutted against the retaining device of FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

' DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 4, and 8, a tube 10 of chipboard has formed in the opposite ends thereof two annular ribs 12 coaxial with the tube axis and spaced inwardly a short distance from the tube extremities. The ribs 12 are formed by mounting the tube 10 on a mandrel having annular indentations corresponding to the ribs 12, and rotating the mandrel while the perimeter of a disc-like indenting tool is forcefully engaged with the periphery of the tube 10 in registry with the: annular indentations in the mandrel (not shown). This results in the material of the tube 10 taking a permanent rib shape as a consequence of beingpressed into the indentation in the mandrel. The mandrel is of a size slightly smaller in diameter than tube 10 such that the latter may be stripped off the mandrel after the indenting operation is completed. The'annular ribs 12 are therefore in the form of coaxial internal annular embossments l4 radially opposite annular indentation 16. The chipboard of which the tube 10 is fabricated is self-supporting such that once the ribs 12 are formed, the tube will retain its cylindrical shape. Also, the chipboard characteristically is pliable and somewhat resilient such that the material thereof can withstand slight deformation and then return to its original shape. v

Two retainer devices 18 in the form of tubular rings 20 of the same chipboardmaterial are similarly fabricated to provide internal coaxial annular embossments 22, the inner diameter of the rings 20 being substantially equal to, the outer diameter of the tube 10 such that the rings 20 may be frictionally telescoped onto the tube 10. The indentations l6 and the embossments 22 aremade to such size that when the rings 20 are telescoped onto the ends of the tube 10, an'embossment 22 willsnap into and have a detent locking action with the respective indentation 16 thereby securing the ring 20 in place. The embossment 22 preferably'has a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the indentation 16. These parts are so sized that the rings 20 may be removed and installed a number of times without deleteriously afi'ecting the securement. As shown more clearly in FIG. 8, at least one side or end of the ring 20, as-denoted by the numeral 24 is made flat so as to lie in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the tube 10, this surface or shoulder 24 extending radially outwardly from the tube 10 as shown.

A typical rubber or the like O-ring to be installed on the storage device just described is shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 1 showing a multiplicity of these O-rings installed on the tube 10. For installing O-rings with one of the retaining rings20 removed from the, tube 10, the O- 3 rings indicated by the numeral 26 are telescoped onto the tube following which the removed retaining ring is installed as previously described. The particular O-rings 26 have flat sides as shown more clearly in FIG. 8, such that the endmost ring 28 flatly engages the shoulder 24 of the retaining ring 20. Thus, if the storage device is positioned upright for an extended period of time, engagement of the particular ring 28 with the shoulder 24 will not produce any cold flow or deformation of the particular O-ring 28 which would render it unsuitable for later use. By contrast, if the shoulder 24 were too narrow or inclined to that shown, the weight of the superposed O-rings 26 could cause the endmost ring 28 and perhaps even the second and third O-rings to take a permanent set and thereby become unsuitable for whatever use might be intended for them. The particular shoulder 24 flat and sized as shown will preserve the integrity of the O-ring shape.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, a different embodiment of this invention is shown, the same reference nu merals indicating like parts. Instead of using retaining rings 20, this embodiment utilizes chipboard closure plugs shown in detail inFIGS. 6 and 7. Two such plugs are used for the opposite ends, respectively, of tube 10, each plug being cup-shaped having a tubular portion 30, a flat bottom 32 and a radially outwardly extending flange 34. Joining the flange 34 to the rim of the tubular portion 30 is an annular ridge 36, U-shaped in crosssection. The flange 34 is made to lie in a plane normal to the axis of the tube 10 as shown in FIG. 5, the ridge 36 having sufficient strength to position and retain the flange 34 in this plane. The tubular portion 30 is made to .a diameter so as to have an interference fit with the annular embossment 14 when the plug is inserted into the tube 10 as shown in FIG. 5. By means of this interference fit, the plug is frictionally secured in place. The circular end edge of the tube engages the flange 34 and projects radially beyond the surface of the tube.

In the use of this second embodiment, one of the plugs is installed, and the O-rings are telescoped over the tube 10 ;as previously explained. TI-Ie remaining plug is then installed for retaining all of the O-rings on the tube 10. By making the flange 34 truly radial, the endmost O-ring, like the O-ring 28 of FIG.,8 will engage a flat radial surface such that its shape will be retained even for extended periods of storage.

While chipboard has been described as the preferredmaterial, it will appear to persons skilled in the art that other forms of cardboard, pulpboard, paperboard and the like may be used without departing from the spirit.

- it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A rubber O-ring storage device comprising a cylindrical tube of self-supporting pliable material having two annular ribs coaxially disposed adjacent to but spaced from the opposite ends thereof, respectively, each rib being defined by an annular embossment on the interior of the tube and an annular indentation on the exterior, and two circular retainer devices of selfsupporting pliable material removably frictionally affixed coaxially to the opposite ends, respectively, of said tube, said devices having means slidably frictionally engaged with said ribs and having annular shoulders, respectively, extending radially outwardly from the circumference of said tube, said shoulders on the opposed retainer devices facing each other and defining planes, respectively, which are perpendicular to the axis of said tube.

2. The storage device of claim I in which said retainer devices are tubular rings of self-supporting pliable material frictionally telescoped over the ends, respectively, of said tube, each said ring having a coaxial annular embossment on the interior thereof frictionally slidably removably engaged with an indentation portion of one of said ribs thereby removably securing the ring against dislodgement from said tube, the materials of said tube and rings being sufficiently resiliently pliable as to permit the repeated installation and removal of said rings and to retain the frictional securement with each installation.

3. The storage device of claim 2 in which the material for both said tube and ring is chipboard.

4. The storage device of claim 3 in which the ring embossment is of such size in relation to the respective annular indentation as to provide a detent locking action when said ring is telescoped onto said tube and the latter embossment is engaged with said indentation.

5. The storage device of claim 1 in which said retainer devices are tubular rings frictionally inserted into the opposite ends, respectively, of said tube in engagement with the embossment portion of the annular ribs, each said ring having an annular flange engageable with an end edge of the tube and projecting radially beyond the outer surface of said tube, said flange lying'in a plane at right angles to the axis of said-tube.

6. The storage device of claim 5 in which each ring is of chipboard and in the form of a cup-shaped closure having a bottom with said flange extending outwardly from the rim thereof, said rim defining an annular ridge lying in a plane spaced from and parallel to said flange,

said ridge being on the side of said flange opposite said bottom, said ridge being U-shaped in cross-section.

i l 4' i 

1. A rubber O-ring storage device comprising a cylindrical tube of self-supporting pliable material having two annular ribs coaxially disposed adjacent to but spaced from the opposite ends thereof, respectively, each rib being defined by an annular embossment on the interior of the tube and an annular indentation on the exterior, and two circular retainer devices of selfsupporting pliable material removably frictionally affixed coaxially to the opposite ends, respectively, of said tube, said devices having means slidably frictionally engaged with said ribs and having annular shoulders, respectively, extending radially outwardly from the circumference of said tube, said shoulders on the opposed retainer devices facing each other and defining planes, respectively, which are perpendicular to the axis of said tube.
 2. The storage device of claim 1 in which said retainer devices are tubular rings of self-supporting pliable material frictionally telescoped over the ends, respectIvely, of said tube, each said ring having a coaxial annular embossment on the interior thereof frictionally slidably removably engaged with an indentation portion of one of said ribs thereby removably securing the ring against dislodgement from said tube, the materials of said tube and rings being sufficiently resiliently pliable as to permit the repeated installation and removal of said rings and to retain the frictional securement with each installation.
 3. The storage device of claim 2 in which the material for both said tube and ring is chipboard.
 4. The storage device of claim 3 in which the ring embossment is of such size in relation to the respective annular indentation as to provide a detent locking action when said ring is telescoped onto said tube and the latter embossment is engaged with said indentation.
 5. The storage device of claim 1 in which said retainer devices are tubular rings frictionally inserted into the opposite ends, respectively, of said tube in engagement with the embossment portion of the annular ribs, each said ring having an annular flange engageable with an end edge of the tube and projecting radially beyond the outer surface of said tube, said flange lying in a plane at right angles to the axis of said tube.
 6. The storage device of claim 5 in which each ring is of chipboard and in the form of a cup-shaped closure having a bottom with said flange extending outwardly from the rim thereof, said rim defining an annular ridge lying in a plane spaced from and parallel to said flange, said ridge being on the side of said flange opposite said bottom, said ridge being U-shaped in cross-section. 